The Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents: Measurement Invariance and Psychometric Properties Among a School Sample of Portuguese Youths

Abstract

Over the last decades there has been an increased interest in assessing social anxiety in adolescents. This study aims to validate the Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents (SAS-A) to Portuguese youth, and to examine its invariance across gender as well as its psychometric properties. The participants were 782 Portuguese youths (371 males, 411 females), with an average age of 15.87 years (SD = 1.72). The results support the original three-factor structure of the SAS-A, with measurement invariance being found across gender, with females scoring higher than males on two subscales. High levels of internal consistency were found. Positive associations with empathy demonstrated that high socially anxious adolescents have elevated empathy tendencies. Mostly null or low negative associations were found with measures of psychopathic traits, callous-unemotional traits and aggression. Study findings provide evidence that the SAS-A is a psychometrically sound instrument that shows measurement invariance between genders, good reliability and positive correlations with empathy.

Short Form of the Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents among community and institutionalized Portuguese youths

“…Regarding the SAS-A-SF structure, we found that the three factor model (Fear of Negative Evaluation, Social Avoidance and Distress-New, and Social Avoidance and Distress-General dimensions) was the best fitting for our data, replicating the factorial structure of both the original instrument ( La Greca and López, 1998 , La Greca et al, 2015 ) and its Portuguese adaptation ( Pechorro et al, 2016 ). Similarly to Nelemans et al (2017) study, we found supporting evidence for the measurement invariance of the SAS-A-SF across gender.…”

“…Concerning convergent validity, the SAS-A-SF subscales were, as expected, significantly related to the original SAS-A, which indicates that this short form may be a useful tool to measure SA in situations where time constraints require using more efficient instruments. Moreover, the SAS-A-SF was overall significantly associated with the BES, showing low to moderate correlations with the total score and the affective dimension ( Pechorro et al, 2016 , Tibi-Elhanany and Shamay-Tsoory, 2011 ). However, the cognitive dimension was not significantly associated with the SAS-A-SF.…”

“…The Portuguese-language adaptation of the SAS-A ( La Greca & López, 1998 ) was used in this study (for a detailed account on the scale translation and validation, see Pechorro, Ayala-Nunes, Nunes, Maroco, & Gonçalves, 2016 ). The SAS-A is an 18-item (plus four filler items) self-administered scale appropriate for adolescents between 13 and 18 years of age.…”

The Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory: Measurement Invariance and Psychometric Properties among Portuguese Youths

“…Internal consistency based on Cronbach’s alpha has previously been reported as 0.91 for FNE, 0.83 for SAD-New, and 0.76 for SAD-General [ 51 ]. The Portuguese version of the SAS-A [ 52 ] was used to analyze the discriminant validity with the YPI because of its good psychometric properties and the fact that social anxiety generally does not overlap with the psychopathy construct [ 51 , 52 ]. Internal consistencies in the present study, estimated by Cronbach’s alpha, were: SAS-A Total = 0.92; FNE = 0.92; SAD-New = 0.88; and SAD-General = 0.84.…”

The Barratt Impulsiveness Scale-11 Among a School Sample of Portuguese Male and Female Adolescents

“…Internal consistency based on Cronbach's alpha has previously been reported as .91 for FNE, .83 for SAD-New, and .76 for SAD-General (La Greca and Lopez 1998). The Portuguese version of the SAS-A (Pechorro et al 2014(Pechorro et al , 2016a was used. Internal consistency of the SAS-A total for the present study, estimated by Cronbach's alpha, was .92.…”